Keeping Data Centers Online with Bender Technology
We all interact and use data centers daily, either directly or indirectly. It can be anywhere from banking services, social media accounts, cloud platforms, point-of-sale systems at retail stores, and more. Now imagine if one of these services were to go down for even a single day (and the impact it would have on our lives). It would likely cause panic and disrupt our lives.
How does this relate to electrical safety? 98% of electrical faults that occur within an electrical system start as a ground fault and can be a common cause for an unexpected shutdown in a critical data center. Therefore, data centers must have reliable ground fault detection and backup power sources in the event that the primary power source fails.
Bender’s solutions for keeping systems online
Typically, the backup power source for a data center is provided by generators. Often the backup generators utilize a high resistance grounded (HRG) system to maximize operational availability and limit ground faults that can flow back into the system. The Bender neutral grounding resistor monitor (NGRM) series provides these systems with a unique capability to provide critical data on Triplen Harmonics and DC currents that may flow back through the neutral and separate them from ground fault currents to avoid nuisance trips/alarms. This is crucial for a data center since these systems have many harmonics due to a large number of non-linear loads, generators adding 3rd and 5th harmonics, and DC equipment that may have 0Hz DC ground faults.
Additionally, these backup systems will typically consist of multiple generators, and they will all have an NGR on each generator neural. Bender offers a unique solution to the industry for monitoring multiple NGRs in parallel with changing operating conditions in an electrical system, with our NGRM series of monitors providing both active and passive monitoring modes.
Adding value to a data center’s cooling system
Another critical aspect of a data center is the cooling system. This is because the computer rooms will get very hot without adequate cooling. The Bender multi-channel RCMS relay, in a small form factor, can easily monitor up to 12 feeds for these circuits to detect any early ground faults. This can help avoid any significant shutdown of the cooling system, which would then require the data center to go offline to prevent any damage to the critical equipment due to the rapid temperature rise.
You will also find Bender ground fault detection relays for ungrounded systems in data centers where any uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or battery energy storage systems provide a constant power supply to critical control equipment. As you can see below, Bender provides a solution across the entire data center facility, anywhere and everywhere electrical equipment exists that needs to be monitored.
At a Glance: Bender Products Within a Data Center
For more information about this application or to learn more about Bender technology related to your specific application, contact our team of experts.
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